Those Medieval Italian Towers - How They Came to be Built

Name the one reason you'd go to San Gimignano in Italy. Your answer probably involves one of the wonders of a traveler's Italy, the appearance of those spindly medieval towers that make 13th century skylines seem like miniature Manhattans.

These towers have always been described as symbols of medieval wealth and power. Well, that's not all they were. Get a little traveler's condensed history of the political forces that made the towers necessary in our latest article: Medieval Towers in Italy - How the Towers Came to be Built, then see pictures of San Gimignano and its towers, and gaze in wonder at Bologna's twin towers, shown on the right, one of which is more than a football field high and slanting by more than you'd like to think about, especially if you're sleeping in a hotel nearby.